[Tiger Fan]

JUNE 12, 1950

FIELD SET FOR COLLEGIATE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Top 16 Teams Gathered in Philadelphia to Crown AIAA Champ

There are plenty of familiar names but also a number of newcomers as the top 16 teams from the recently completed collegiate baseball campaign are in Philadelphia preparing for the 5th annual Collegiate World Championship Series tournament. Eastern State, which won three straight college ball titles a decade and a half ago, is the top seed. The Monitors have participated in each of the four previous tournaments under the current format, but were knocked out in the second round on each of those occasions.

Lane State, which won two of the previous four tournaments, failed to qualify this time around as the Emeralds finished behind Portland Tech in the West Coast Athletic Association, and they did not receive an at-large bid. Huntington State, the West Virginia school that reached the finals a year ago before falling to the Emeralds, is back and the Miners, despite being the number two seed, will have a tough opening round game against traditional baseball power Maryland State.

Notable is the appearance of Noble Jones College as the Colonels try to follow up their collegiate basketball championship from April with another national title. Among the Colonels key players is second baseman Charlie Barrell who is likely to be an All-American in baseball once again and also helped lead the Noble Jones cagers to their perfect season on the hardwood.

The tournament will be held in Philadelphia as both the Keystones and Sailors have been forced out on the road to clear space at Broad Street Park and Sailors Memorial Stadium for the tournament. The single elimination rounds will be held Tuesday-Thursday with the best of three final set for Saturday, Sunday and if necessary next Monday. Here is the tournament bracket and list of pas champions.

HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TEAM ANNOUNCED

The top three selections last January in the opening round of the FABL draft all were named High School All-Americans as the 1950 team was unveiled over the weekend. Headlining the list is first overall selection Earl Howe, an outfielder drafted by the New York Gothams out of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.

Howe led all high school players this season with 14 homeruns while slashing .512/.596/1.238 in 21 games. It marked the third time that Howe had been named to the All-American team in his high school career. Sharing that distinction was Muncie, IN. high schooler Ralph Capriotti, and outfielder selected third overall by the Detroit Dynamos in the FABL draft. Sandwiched between them was Bob Gray, a Philadelphia high school infielder who was chosen second overall by one of his hometown teams in the Philadelphia Sailors. It was Gray's second time being named to the All-American team.

Twelve underclassmen were named to the group of 18 players selected including junior Bob Porter, who made his third straight appearance and California sophomore John Samuel, who was named an All-American for the second time after hitting a high school best .606 this season. Samuel's batting average was also the fourth highest single season total ever recorded, trailing only Buddy Miller, Ralph Hanson and Walt Messer. That clearly puts the 15-year-old in some pretty select company.

Here are the High School All-Americans for 1950.

TALES FROM THE LAIR

Wolves Start Week Well, Finish Poorly -- Toronto begins the second week of June winning 3 of 5 against New York teams before dropping 4 straight, one to Brooklyn followed by a 3 game sweep at the hands of the Saints. That means the Wolves finish a 12 game, 11 day homestand with a 5-7 record. Now they head back out on the road and will not play at Dominion Stadium again until June 30th. 24-30 overall, Toronto sits seventh in the Continental Assocition, 7 and a half games back of front-running Cincinnati.

The week started poorly as in Monday's game all the New York Stars needed was two big innings, scoring 4 in the second, 5 in the eighth to put the Wolves away 10-6 last Monday. The home side then won three straight: 7-6 over the Stars in 17 on Tuesday followed by 5-0 and 6-4 wins when Brooklyn came to town. George Garrison was masterful in the shutout, a four run 7th including another 2 RBI producing hit by Joe DeMott allowed the Wolves to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 victory on Thursday.

Things turned ugly on the weekend with 4 straight losses. Leo Hayden held the Wolves in check Friday outdueling Hancock in 3-2 Kings win Friday. On Saturday Joe Austin's theft of third base in the 10th inning allowed Maurice Carter's sacrifice fly to score him with the winning run in Saints 4-3 victory. In a Sunday twin bill to close out the homestand the home squad was in neither game losing both ends, 9-1 and 5-1 to drop their season record at home to just 14-17.

Fans leaving Dominion Stadium continue to complain about pitching. The starters ERA is 4.15 which is skewed by recent awful starts by Harry Stewart and Harry Phillips. The team does need to find at least one more reliable starter, if not two. One hoped for solution - a breakout season at AAA Buffalo by former first overall pick Les Ledbetter is not happening. The 21-year-old lefthander is clearly not ready as suggested by 0-8, 5.98 ERA 1.83 WHIP in AAA. Word around the offices is that Ledbetter will either sink or swim in AAA. He has been a major disappointment as the first overall pick in 1947. Ray Hatch may get a shot at the 5th starter. Hatch, 25, is a 1943 15th round selection who had a brief stint with the Wolves last season and is presently 4-3, 3.55 for Buffalo. Simply put: Pitching has to improve to keep the fans showing up to games.

At the plate the team has been better than expected led by good starts by from Joe DeMott and Harry Finney along with the normal consistency from Hal Wood. Kirby Copeland is fitting in as the 24-year-old rookie is batting .303 with a club best 3 homeruns - a number which proves this team will not be praying for the long ball to save them in games. Fielding has been adequate, at best. Finney is improving at shortstop which will help although he is just marking time there until teenage sensation John Wells is ready. You can see skipper Fred Barrell starting to move away from Chink Stickels as the transition to youth begins for the Wolves.

• 21-year-old righthander Larry Beebe, the fourth overall pick in the 1946 FABL draft, made his big league debut for the Cleveland Foresters last week. It came against the Cougars and was not a bad effort at all with Beebe going the distance, allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits but he took a 3-1 loss.
• Toronto's Tom Frederick notched the 1,000th hit of his career. The 34-year-old is in his 9th big league season, all with the Wolves.
• The Stars Newt Cooper goes 5-5 and hits for the cycle against Philadelphia! Artie Mortimer of the New York Mirror tells us Cooper has been hot this season, but his split time in center field partner, Bob Riggins, hasnt been bad either.
• Mortimer also reports "With half the Stars pitching staff seeming lackluster and the total collapse of Vern Hubbard, #5 Richie Hughes, who hasnt been completely horrible but has options left, gets sent down to AAA while Dan Atwater gets the call up. Atwater has been brilliant in his last 5 starts in LA, giving up a total of 4 earned runs, 3 walks and striking out 20 during that time and going 5-0.
• The Miners need to figure out how to get some of that home cooking when away from Fitzpatrick Park. The Pittsburghers are 23-12 at home but a dreadful 4-16 on the road."
• Positive news in the Chicago Cougars world always seems to come at a price. Sal Pestilli finally hit a homer! And then his head... Whenever something goes right, something else goes wrong. Pestillie did not hit his first homerun of the season until Friday - in his 163rd plate appearance of the season. A day later he suffered a concussion and will be sidelined for two weeks.
• Leland Kuenster of the Chicago Herald Examiner says that "even with 5 losses in a row and a deficit of 9.5 games, there is no panic in Chicago (quite yet). The Chiefs have played 21 games at home (14-7) and 34 games on the road (11-23). We do need to get the offense into gear (Hopkins and Casstevens are carrying things so far), hence purchasing the contract of Ed Bloom. Also Don Smith has been told he will start playing some left field at Fort Wayne. Hopefully that's not too much of a disaster. Smith has shown a good bat, but with Hopkins ensconced at first, there is nowhere for him to play."
• New York Stars prospect Armand Franco is one game away from tying a Class B record for longest hitting streak. The 21-year-old third baseman is playing for Salem of the C-O-W League and is riding a 34-game hit streak. The longest streak at the Class B level was set back in 1933 when Bill Cox of Tacoma hit safely in 35 straight games. Franco, who is hitting.318 on the season, was a third round pick of the Stars out of a Michigan high school in 1947.

PACKERS SIGN FORMER SHAMROCK FIRST ROUNDER

It took a little time, but Bill LaChance found his way to the Windy City. The Chicago Packers signed the 20-year-old free agent to a contract last week after he was released over the winter by the New York Shamrocks. LaChance was drafted in the first round, fifth overall, last summer with the pick the Shamrocks had acquired from Chicago in the big Bert McColley deal from last spring.

New York inked LaChance to a deal rather than have the Quebec native spend the season developing in the junior league. Due to his age, LaChance was too young to send to the minors so he spent most of the season in the press box, suiting up for just 8 regular season games for the Shamrocks. He was pointless in those contests and saw very little ice time in any of the games. Realizing his game was not ready for the pro level at this time, the Shamrocks cut him because he was unable to go to the minors and no longer allowed in junior due to the fact he signed a pro contract.

LaChance will be permitted to play in the minors next season as a 20-year-old, so the Packers inked him to a 3-year deal, and he is expected to spend next year with the Pittsburgh Rovers of the Hockey Association of America.

In other signing news the Toronto Dukes extended Bob Crone's contract for 2 years with a modest increase. The 27-year-old right winger, who made his Dukes debut in 1946 after spending time in Montreal, Boston and Chicago, had 3 goals and 6 points in 35 games for Toronto last season. The new deal will pay the Ottawa, Ont. native $2,000 per season. For his career, the much travelled Crone has appeared in 143 NAHC games, scoring 19 goals and adding 31 assists. He has also played 179 games in the minors over the past 9 seasons.

RECENT KEY RESULTS

• Danny Rutledge, who suffered his only career loss in a title shot against then-world welterweight champion Mac Erickson last summer, ran his record to 20-1-1 with a unanimous decision over Jackhammer Dennis O'Keefe in Detroit last week. Rutledge came close to ending the bout early, as O'Keefe just beat the count and struggled to his feet after being floored late in round four of the 10-rounder. O'Keefe, who won the world title in 1946 but lost it in his first defense, was completely outclassed in the bout with the loss dropping his record to 24-10.

UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS

• Jun 15- Fall River, MA. - rising young middleweight Mark McCoy (19-1) squares off with Robbie Charles (36-10-1)
• Jun 17- Thompson Palladium, Detroit: World welterweight champion Mark Westlake (28-5-1) defends his title against Dale Roy (36-7-1).
• Jun 24- Portland, OR.: rising heavyweight contender Joey Tierney (18-0) vs Michael Gray (28-13-8)
• Jun 29- Glasgow, Scotland: Veteran Irish heavyweight Pat Harber (42-8-3) faces James Woolescroft (26-9-2)
• Jun 30- Flatbush Gardens, Brooklyn: young New Jersey heavyweight Max Bradley (17-1-1) faces Max Maxwell (16-6-4)
• Jul 4- Gothams Stadium, New York: World heavyweight champion Hector Sawyer (63-3-1) defends his title against Cannon Cooper (30-5-1).

CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT: ACADEMIA ALLIANCE

The Academia Alliance is no long a major factor on the college sports scene but in the early days of the AIAA it was the dominant force in collegiate athletics. Basketball in particular was owned by the 8 Academia schools for the first decade of the sport but it also enjoyed great success in baseball.

Things changed suddenly in 1919 when, amidst allegations of athletes being paid to play for alliance schools and even some cases where non-students were participating in games, the presidents of the 8 institutions cracked down on eligibility requirements. Not only did the Academia Alliance eight move to police and prevent any sort of renumeration for student athletes but over the ensuing decade it also tightened eligibility requirements to a far more stringent standard than any of the other schools had on its student athletes. The result was many of the top players, who would have attended a school in the conference, no longer could qualify academically and they were forced to attend other schools.

With those tighter standards the Academia Alliance quickly lost its status as the premier league for college sports. The conference that had won 6 basketball national titles between 1910 and 1918 would never win another one. Seven times in the first 12 seasons of AIAA basketball a player from the Academia Alliance was named the most valuable player (later named the Art Barrette Trophy) but no one from the conference has won one since.

Baseball also suffered as, aside from a 2 year run in the early 1930s when Henry Hudson won back to back National baseball titles behind a pair of first overall FABL draft picks in Curly Jones and Joe Hancock along with George Gillard, who would be selected 5th overall, the section has faded away from prominence on the diamond. Hancock was one of three from the Academia Alliance to win baseball's MVP -the Frank Christian Award- following Henry Hudson's Sam Orr in 1927 and preceding Ellery College's Jim Carter, the 1943 winner.

On the gridiron, the conference has not had a national champion since 1928 when Geoge Fox University completed the rare accomplishment of winning at least one national title in each of the three major team sports. In the early days of the sport, it would be rare not to see two or three names from the Academia Alliance included when the All-American teams were released but in the last decade only six players were so honoured including Charley Morrison, the Henry Hudson quarterback who has gone on to have a decent pro career first with the old Cincinnati Tigers and more recently with the New York Stars.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 6/11/1950

• President Truman signed a $3 billion aid authorization bill and hailed it as a "major contribution to peace and freedom in the world." The vast majority of the funds are earmarked to finance the third year of the European Recovery Program.
• Western Europe security is rapidly improving according to General Bradley, who told Congress the Allies will be able to defend and hold Western Europe because of improvements being made as a result of the Marshall Plan.
• President Truman is reported ready to set up a special panel to take over part of the work of a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee investigating charges by Senator McCarthy of communism in the State Department.
• Without ruling on the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine of racial segregation, the Supreme Court held, by an 8 to 0 margin, that a railroad violated the Interstate Commerce Act by segregating passengers in rail dining cars on a trip from Washington to Alabama.
• Reactions ranged from defiance to bewilderment, and from elation to a wait-and-see attitude in response to the Supreme Court ruling on racial segregation at State University schools and in railroad dining cars.
• Out for a morning walk while in St Louis, President Truman acted as a peacemaker to the utter surprise of a sailor and taxi driver who were arguing over a fare. Accompanied by a Secret Service man, the President stopped when he heard the argument and asked the sailor where he earned his medals. Once the duo realized who he was, the argument over the fare was forgotten.